James 1:19

1:19-21 Instead of blaming God under our trials, let us open our ears and hearts to learn what he teaches by them. And if men would govern their tongues, they must govern their passions. The worst thing we can bring to any dispute, is anger. Here is an exhortation to lay apart, and to cast off as a filthy garment, all sinful practices. This must reach to sins of thought and affection, as well as of speech and practice; to every thing corrupt and sinful. We must yield ourselves to the word of God, with humble and teachable minds. Being willing to hear of our faults, taking it not only patiently, but thankfully. It is the design of the word of God to make us wise to salvation; and those who propose any mean or low ends in attending upon it, dishonour the gospel, and disappoint their own souls.

James 1:19-20 . Wherefore — As if he had said, Since you are regenerated, and that by the word of God, therefore let every man be swift to hear — That word; let him be willing and desirous to receive instruction from it, and therefore diligent in embracing all opportunities of hearing it; slow to speak — To deliver his opinion in matters of faith, that he does not yet well understand. Persons half instructed frequently have a high opinion of their own knowledge in religious matters, are very fond of teaching others, and zealous to bring them over to their opinions. That the converted Jews were fond of being teachers, we learn from James 3:1 ; 1 Timothy 1:7 . Slow to wrath — Against those that differ from him. Intemperate religious zeal is often accompanied by a train of bad passions, and particularly with anger against those who differ from us in opinion. The Jews, even the Jewish Christians to whom this letter was chiefly written, were very faulty in this respect. The apostle, however, may be understood as cautioning his readers against easily yielding to provocation in any respect whatever, and especially when injuriously treated by their persecutors. For the wrath of man — Even when it appears in the garb of religious zeal, worketh not — But, on the contrary, greatly obstructs, the righteousness of God — Instead of promoting the cause of true religion in the world, it is a reproach to it, and a means of exciting the prejudices of mankind against it.

Persecution, in particular, the effect of the wrath of man, if violent, may make men hypocrites, by forcing them to profess what they do not believe; but it has no influence to produce that genuine faith which God accounts to men for righteousness. Nothing but rational arguments, with the illumination of the Spirit of God, can do this.

Jam 1:19 . Ὥστε , wherefore ) The Summing up[15] or Conclusion, and also a Statement of those things which follow, in three divisions. Excess in words and the affections of the tongue and the heart , Jam 1:26 , is unfavourable to hearing with profit.— πᾶς , every man ) This is opposed to no man , Jam 1:13 ; for this 19th verse has reference to that, and not merely to the preceding verse.— ταχὺς εἰς τὸ ἀκοῦσαι , swift to hear ) The true method of hearing ( receive ye ), together with the obedience and right disposition of the hearers, is treated of in verses 21–27, and the whole of ch. 2— βραδὺς εἰς τὸ λαλῆσαι , slow to speak ) This is treated of in Jam 1:26 , and in ch. 3. Slow to speak ; so that he speaks nothing against God, ch. Jam 1:13 ; nor anything improperly concerning God, ch. Jam 3:1-13 .— βραδὺς εἰς ὀργὴν , slow to wrath ) This is treated of, ch. Jam 3:13 and following verse, ch. Jam 4:5 . Slow to wrath , or impatience, towards God, and proneness to anger as it respects his neighbour. He who is slow to anger will readily forbear all anger, and assuredly all evil anger. Hastiness drives to sin. [15] See on SYMPERASMA, Append.

19. Wherefore—as your evil is of yourselves, but your good from God. However, the oldest manuscripts and versions read thus: "Ye know it (so Eph 5:5; Heb 12:17), my beloved brethren; BUT (consequently) let every man be swift to hear," that is, docile in receiving "the word of truth" (Jas 1:18, 21). The true method of hearing is treated in Jas 1:21-27, and Jas 2:1-26. slow to speak—(Pr 10:19; 17:27, 28; Ec 5:2). A good way of escaping one kind of temptation arising from ourselves (Jas 1:13). Slow to speak authoritatively as a master or teacher of others (compare Jas 3:1): a common Jewish fault: slow also to speak such hasty things of God, as in Jas 1:13. Two ears are given to us, the rabbis observe, but only one tongue: the ears are open and exposed, whereas the tongue is walled in behind the teeth. slow to wrath—(Jas 3:13, 14; 4:5). Slow in becoming heated by debate: another Jewish fault (Ro 2:8), to which much speaking tends. Tittmann thinks not so much "wrath" is meant, as an indignant feeling of fretfulness under the calamities to which the whole of human life is exposed; this accords with the "divers temptations" in Jas 1:2. Hastiness of temper hinders hearing God's word; so Naaman, 2Ki 5:11; Lu 4:28.

Let every man be swift to hear; prompt and ready to hear God speaking in the word of truth, before mentioned. Slow to speak; either silently and submissively hear the word, or speak not rashly and precipitately of the things of faith, but be well furnished yourselves with spiritual knowledge, ere you take upon you to teach others. Slow to wrath; either, be not angry at the word, or the dispensers of it, though it come close to your consciences, and discover your secret sins; the word is salt, do not quarrel if it make your sores smart, being it will keep them from festering: or, be not angrily prejudiced against those that dissent from you. For the wrath of man: that anger which is merely human, and generally sinful, inordinate passion and carnal zeal. Worketh not the righteousness of God; will not accomplish the ends of the word in you, viz. to work that righteousness which in the word God prescribes you. But here is withal a meiosis in the words, less being spoken than is intended; it is implied therefore, that the wrath of man hinders the operation of the word, and disposeth to that unrighteousness which is forbidden by it.

Verses 19-27. - EXHORTATION (1) TO HEAR RATHER THAN TO SPEAK, (2) NOT ONLY TO HEAR, BUT ALSO TO DO. Verse 19. - The text requires correction. For ὥστε ... ἔστω πᾶς of the Textus Receptus, read, Ἴστε ἀδελφοί μοι ἀγαπητοι ἔστω δὲ πᾶς , א , A, B, C, Latt. Ἴστε is probably indicative, and refers to what has gone before. " Ye know this, my beloved brethren. But let every man," etc. The verse gives us St. James's version of the proverb, "Speech is silver. Silence is golden." Similar maxims were not infrequent among the Jews. So in Ecclus. 5:11, " Be swift to hear; and let thy life be sincere; and with patience give answer;" cf. 4:29, "Be not hasty in thy tongue, and in thy deeds slack and remiss." In the rabbinical work, 'Pirqe Aboth,' 1. 12, we have the following saying of Rabbi Simeon, the son of Gamaliel (who must, therefore, have been a contemporary of St. James): "All my days I have grown up amongst the wise, and have not found ought good for a man but silence; not learning but doing is the groundwork; and whoso multiplies words occasions sin." This passage is curiously like the one before us, both in the thoughts and in the expressions used. James 1:19

(19) We come now to the third subdivision of the chapter. By reason of the Divine benevolence, the Apostle urges his readers—(1) to meekness, (2) self-knowledge, (3) practical religion. Wherefore, my beloved brethen.—There appears to be some small error in the MSS. here, but the alteration is only just worth mentioning: ye know my brethren beloved, seems the correct version, the very abruptness of which may serve to arrest attention. Yea, “have ye not known?” might well be asked further in the indignant language of Isaiah (Isaiah 40:21; comp. Romans 5:19). Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.—For all these cautions are required in the building up of the new life. “The quick speaker is the quick kindler;” and we are told later on “how great a matter a little fire kindleth” (James 3:5). And what have we at all to do with wrath, much less that our whole life—as unhappily it often is—should be wasted with such bitterness? Anger, no doubt, is a wholesome tonic for some minds, and certain weaknesses; but “he that is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city” (Proverbs 16:32).

19–21 . Man’s wrath, and God’s righteousness 19 . Wherefore ] The better MSS. give “Ye know this … but let every man.” my beloved brethren ] The formula of address was common to all the four great writers of the Apostolic Church. We find it in St Paul ( 1 Corinthians 15:58 ), in St Peter ( 2 Peter 3:14-15 ), in St John ( 1 John 2:7 ; 1 John 3:2 ). In the last two instances, however, the word “brethren” is wanting. let every man be swift to hear ] From the general thought of the high ideal of life implied in the new birth from God, St James passes to the special aspect of that ideal which was most in contrast with the besetting sin of his countrymen. To him speech was of silver, and silence of gold. In this as in many other passages of his Epistle, he echoed the teaching of the sapiential books of the Old Testament ( Proverbs 13:3 ; Proverbs 14:29 ; Proverbs 17:27 ; Ecclesiastes 5:2 ) yet more, perhaps, of those of the Apocrypha. So we find “Be swift to hear” in Sir 5:11 , and maxims of a like nature in Sir 20:7 . The “slow to wrath” follows on “slow to speak” as pointing to the crucial test of character. If it were hard at all times to be “slow to speak,” it was harder than ever when men were roused to anger.